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What Young People Think

Recent research and discussion with groups of young people in the UK suggest the following:

• Lack of information often prevents young people from forming opinions without being prejudiced or judgmental because they don't have the basic facts to think through the issues. This is especially so for those under 16 years of age.
• There is greater awareness and tolerance, but young people themselves say attitudes tend to be ambivalent, homophobic and mostly negative.
• Young people appear to have little in-depth understanding of the effects of homophobia on a person, but generally agree that peers questioning their sexuality would find it hurtful to face the abuse given.
• Young people feel lack of information, discussion and education on gay and lesbian issues strongly influences their attitudes and behaviour and that there is a real need for change in this area.
• Strong traditional stereotypes abound, with a focus on dress behaviour. It's assumed a person is heterosexual if they do not fit a gay stereotype of dress behaviour. Many ideas are informed from the media, gay celebrities and jokes.
• Young people who have more awareness of lesbian and gay issues tend to be more open-minded, although they agree homophobia exists among males.
• Young people can be targeted for abuse due to their parent's sexual orientation, resulting in social exclusion. This can be extremely painful for teenagers as they have no control over this.
• There is a gap in provision of support for young lesbians and gay men and lack of clarity about roles and responsibilities of teachers and other professionals.
• Confidentiality is a real problem, especially in rural areas.
• Attitudes are strongly influenced by the physical aspect of gay (male) relationships, which a lot of young people find disgusting and difficult to cope with.

What young people think about discussing gay issues in school

• If seen to be too tolerant can be thought to be hiding something yourself
  
• If you ask too many questions people will think it is you who is gay
  
• If you appear to know a lot about it people might think you are gay
  
• Difficult to discuss because what you say might come back to haunt you
  
• Difficult to cope with if teacher appears uncertain about the issues, or embarrassed
  
• Recognise teachers may be gay and how difficult this might be for them
  
• If not safe for teachers to be openly gay, how can it be safe for them
  
• Major concerns about confidentiality in relation to teachers and health professionals working in schools
  
• Schools not a good environment to come out in, better to wait until you leave
  
• Homophobic taunts and bullying feared, particularly among boys
  
• If gay, places away from home and school, where you can be yourself and work things through, are welcome
  
• Problem of there not being places like this in small towns or villages. If there were you would be easily identified

What young people think schools could do

• Make sure anti-bullying policies work and that they take account of all kinds of bullying, including those to do with sexual orientation
• ighlight and discuss gay issues in the contexts of social education, citizenship, equal opportunities and human rights
• Include homosexuality in sex education programmes along with other types of relationship in a balanced way - not a big focus here, but not left out
• Be aware of how damaging a gay pupil would find it if the fact they were gay leaked out in an unplanned way and they weren't prepared for this
• Provide visible, accessible information, displayed in the context of other information for pupils
• Distribute information along with other pupil information to everyone
• >Make sure there is information about lesbian issues for girls
• Provide information about what's happening in relation to HIV/AIDS

  What else might help?

• It would be useful to be able to go somewhere away from school for support or information.
• Youth provision can give young people the chance to deal with the issues in a safe and affirming environment, but it is more acceptable in a city where potentially there is a greater degree of anonymity.
• In small towns and villages it would need to be in the context of a general 'health place' or people would assume you were gay.
• Websites are very acceptable because potentially they can be viewed in privacy.

Many potentially supportive frameworks already exist in schools

• policies on bullying
  
• school ethos developments
  
• policies on social justice, equal opportunities and social inclusion
  
• healthy/health promoting schools movement
  
• the curriculum, particularly in personal, social and health education (PSHE), citizenship and opportunities for cross-curricular work in English, history, modern studies, health studies, art, sociology, religious and moral education

For gay men and lesbians, being equal at school means getting on with their lives and studies without facing discrimination or prejudice in the classroom or school environment because of their sexuality.